Police Lack Policy On Chases

January 21, 1985|By Neil Santaniello, Staff Writer

In Hollywood, high-speed cops-and-robbers chases almost always result in crunched cars. While chain-reaction collisions rarely occur in real-life police pursuits, cruisers are occasionally smashed up during chases and lives are endangered.

Lake Worth police recently caught the driver of a Trans Am who exhibited movie stuntman skills as he led several cruisers through residential neighborhoods and side streets in a scene reminiscent of Smokey and the Bandit.

A tire blowout ended the pursuit and resulted in the driver`s capture. Police said a gram of cocaine stashed in the sports car prompted the motorist to try to elude an officer.

Another chase that reached speeds of 100 mph began Tuesday in Riviera Beach and ended in Palm Beach Gardens. Police arrested two men on charges stemming from a pre-dawn armed robbery at the Sheraton Ocean Inn.

The chase began outside the hotel and ended when the suspects` pickup truck spun out of control on PGA Boulevard and brought the truck to a halt.

Neither pursuit seriously damaged any squad cars. But after the chase from the hotel, a robbery suspect fleeing on foot ran headlong into the side of a cruiser and dented it. He was not seriously injured.

Despite the risk of injury and damages, most police departments, including those in Palm Beach County, lack a clear-cut policy on when an officer should think twice about punching the accelerator -- whether he`s chasing a fleeing felon or a traffic violator.

Riviera Beach Lt. Jerry Poerba, who was an instructor in a now-defunct pursuit driving school for Palm Beach County officers held at Palm Beach International Airport, said he used to offer one rule of thumb on hot pursuit.

``I told officers, `Imagine you have the police chief sitting next to you in the car,` `` Poerba said. `` `Would he approve if you continued the chase?` ``

``Is it worth the risk of a major accident for you to catch someone involved in a minor traffic violation? I would say the answer to that in any case is `no,` but it`s a dilemma. If a department had a policy forbidding some pursuits, habitual offenders would automatically know they could get away.``

Under a pursuit guideline issued last year, Florida Highway Patrol troopers must radio a supervisor for permission to continue a pursuit, and no more than two cruisers can be involved, said Sgt. Max Shell of Troop L in Lantana.

``That keeps police cars from hopping on the bandwagon,`` he said.

Usually, though, a pursuit will start ``before you even realize it,`` said Palm Beach Lt. Tim Wagman, who acknowledges having dented about a dozen cars in his 10-year career.

Attempting to overtake a fleeing motorist is even more questionable nowadays, because most police cruisers no longer have specially modified, supercharged engines able to close the gap with some high-performance sports cars, officers say.

Police cars might include heavy-duty suspension and brakes and tougher tires, but not that extra push, Poerba said. His department uses Ford Crown Victorias and Dodge Diplomats, vehicles also driven by several other county police agencies.

In the `70s and early `80s, Poerba said, ``we used to have a Plymouth police car with the big 440 engines. Those cars on I-95 would do 140 mph . . . but it`s too expensive for Detroit to assemble a certain amount of those cars.``

If you can`t beat them, join them was the philosophy behind the FHP`s move to convert a portion of its 1,500-car fleet to sporty, high-performance Ford Mustangs in September 1983.

Troopers are engaged in more high-speed pursuits than other Florida officers because they patrol highways such as Interstate 95 and Florida`s Turnpike, and they had complained that they couldn`t catch up to some sports cars.

Now 90 Mustangs are on the road statewide -- about one-sixteenth of FHP`s fleet. More may be coming, said FHP Capt. and Safety Chief Charles Hall.

``They have gone over extremely well with the troopers,`` he said of the Mustangs, which can accelerate to 140 mph. No pursuit statistics have been compiled by the FHP to gauge their effectiveness, although performance logs were kept by drivers of the first batch of Mustangs and submitted to the FHP`s Tallahasee headquarters, he said.

There`s even a Datsun 280Z, Camaro Z28 and Pontiac Trans Am painted in FHP yellow and black. Those sportscars, used in other counties, were confiscated in drug arrests and qualified as patrol cars, said FHP Sgt. Carlton Bishop of Troop K on Florida`s Turnpike.

``Motorists in Corvettes and other macho cars seem to be less disturbed about receiving a ticket from a Trans Am than from a four-door Plymouth Fury, the old family sedan,`` he said.

Fleeing and eluding a police officer in Florida is a first-degree misdemeanor that carries a fine of up to $1,000, the possibility of a suspended driver`s license and up to a year in jail. The penalty does not seem to deter some motorists, authorities say.